Device for making indicia for watch dials or the like



pril 5,4 1949.

Filed Feb. 13, 194? 5 Sheets-Sheet l Aprll 5, 1949. B. DUPERTIUS 2,466,585

DEVICE FOB MAKING INDIGIA FOR WATCH DIALs 0R THE LIKE Filed Feb. 13, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet .'2r

Je 35 46 37 39 /Lmv B. DUPERTIUS DEVICE FOR MAKING INDICIA FOR April 5, 1949.

WATCH DIALS OR THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. I3, 194'? INVENTOR.

A TTQRNEY Aprll 5, 1949. v B. DUPERTIUS 2,466,585

' v DEVICE FOR MAKING INDICIA FOR v WATCH DIALS OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 13, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 TTORNEY.

April 5, 1949.

B. DUPER-rlus 2,466,585 DEVICE FOR MAKING INDICIA FOR WATCH DIALS OR THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 15,194?

` INVENTOR.

vll.. l Een A TTORN E Y.

Patented Apr. 5, 1949 DEVICE FOR MAKING INDICIA FOR WATCH DIALS OR THE LIKE Bernard Dupertius, Rochelle Park, N. J., assgnor to Du Bern Company, Inc., Passaic, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 13, 1947, Serial No. 728,304

1 Claim. (Cl. 51-125) This invention relates to a device for manufacturing indicia for the dials of watches and the like.

It is known in the art that modern watch dials embody indicia, usually made of metal, such as v gold, or a suitable other metal or alloy, which indicia are fanciful in shape and are designed for the double purpose of being decorative and at the same time of permitting ready reading of the dial at any position of the watch hands. To this end such indicia are preferably made in several different shapes, which can be distinguished from one another at a glance. This invention has for its general object to provide a simplified and highly efficient device for shaping such indicia,

wherein the surfaces of said indicia exposed to the eye are limited by a plurality of adjacent plane surfaces, and are preferably given a high polish prior to being set in the dial.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a device whereby such indicia may be shaped, that is, the limiting plane surfaces may be cut, and if desired polished, without the need of any adjustment of the device itself, and whereby the manufacture of such indicia may be accordingly speeded up and rendered simple and economical, not requiring any special skill on the operators part.

Another object is to provide a device of the character described which embodies certain controls which are set according to the shape of the particular indicia to be manufactured but once set need not be changed or in any way acted upon until the shape of the indicia to be manufactured is changed.

A further object is to provide a device achieving any or all of the aforementioned objects which is particularly simple to make and to use, and is quite economical and foolproof.

Other related and ancillary objects of this invention will clearly appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a grinding and lapping mechanism, in connection with which a device according to this invention is adapted to be used, showing one preferred embodiment of the device itself in broken lines in two possible positions on the mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a side view of one embodiment of a device according to this invention.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal cross section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 looking downwards.

2 Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the lowermost portion of the device of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a front view, and Fig. 8 is a side view I of a detail of the device of Fig. 3, and particularly of the chuck.

Fig. 9 is a perspective View, and Fig. 10 is a bottom View of an indicia.

Fig. 11 is a side view, with portions in section of another embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 12 is a top plan View of the device of Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a perspective View of a detail of said device.

Fig. 14 is a bottom plan view of said device.

Fig. 15 is a vertical section of a portion of said device, taken along the line I5--I5 of Fig. 14 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 16 is a horizontal section taken on the line I B-I 6 of Fig. 15 looking downwards.

Fig. 17 is a vertical section of a detail of the device taken on the line I'l-I'I of'Fig. 12 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 18 is a horizontal section taken on the line I8-I8 of Fig. 15 looking downwards.

Referring now in detail 'to the drawings, a device according to this invention is used in connection with certain equipment, the parts of which more directly concerned are illustrated in Fig. 1. These parts comprise one or more grinding or lapping or polishing discs such as discs ID and II mounted on shafts I2 and I3 respectively, journalled in a frame I4, power means for operating said discs (which power means are not shown or described inasmuch as they may be of a conventional type Well known in the art), and a guide rod for each disc parallel to the shaft thereof and fixed to frame I4, such as guide rods I5 and IB. A stop plate I1 is fixed to frame I4 in front of wheel l I. A similar stop plate could be provided in front of wheel I0, but this is usually unnecessary.

In the steps of manufacture of the indicia prior to the use of the device herein described and claimed, indicia blanks are manufactured.

having a substantially parallelepiped shape and further embodying one or two, or if desired even more nipples such as nipple 54 (Figs. 9 and 10) protruding from the bottom face of the blank, that is from the face opposite to that which would be cut and will be exposed to View in the.`

dial. Such manufacture may be accomplished in a press by the use of suitable dies', and during on wheel l0 by seating the device on rod |5 and urging it against the wheel |0. In view of the nature of the polishing operation, it is usually considered unnecessary to have a stop plate provided herein, although such plate could be added if desired.

A second preferred embodiment of my invention, which is used in the same manner described for the foregoing embodiment, provides means for shaping indicia havingfaces which form different angles with the axis of the indicia, and rtherefore with the grinding or lapping wheels. Figs. 1l to 18 inclusive show such an embodiment. It comprises a bottom piece analgous to the piece 28 and a top piece 6|, analagous to the piece The bottom piece 60 is also provided with yokes 62 on which, as illustrated in the drawings, there are freely mounted by means of screws 63 roller bearings 64'. In place of the front bracket 26 of the first embodiment, there is however provided a separate stop drum 65, which carries a number (in the embodiment illustrated, 3) of stops 66, herein disclosed as screws. These screws engage corresponding threaded bores in the stop drum 65, which latter is slotted as indica-ted at 61 in Fig. 1l. to provide an elastic clamping action about the stop screws 66 which is analagous to that explained in the case of the first embodiment with respect to the slots 29 and 36. Screws 68 (Fig. 15) are provided to realize said clamping action. The stop drum is freely pivotable about a core 69 which also engages a bore in a portion 96 of the top piece 6|, and serves as pivot for said top piece. The core is bored centrally to allow passage of a shank 16 which is screw threaded at the upper end thereof at 1|. The screw thread 1| engages a threaded bore in a cap 12 which bears on the top of the stop drum 65 and is preferably provided with bores such as 13 whereby the screws 68 are rendered accessible from the top. The shank 19 has near its lower end a pin 14 which is engaged by a lever 15. Lever 15 has at one end, to the front of the pin 1li, a bore ythrough which passes a screw 16 which engages the body of the bottom piece 68. The lever 15 extends along the bottom of the device towards the rear and has a rearmost U-shaped nger piece 11 accessible to the opera-tor from the rear of the device. At an intermediate portion thereof the lever 15 has an upwardly extending pin 18 surrounded by a compression coil spring 19 the upper ends whereof t into a bore 86 in the bottom piece 68. The stop drum 65 has depressions 8| in the lower face thereof, which depressions match, and in the embodiment illustrated directly underlie, the stops 66. In the forward yoke portion of the bottom piece there is a vertical bore 82 in which is rigidly fitted an upwardly extending sleeve 9B which houses a compression coil spring 83 retained within the sleeve by a screw 84 or other equivalent means, and having superimposed thereto a ball or sphere 85 of a diameter corresponding to the size of the depressions 8|. Normally the spring 19 urges the lever 15 to pivot downwards about its pivot screw 16, forcing the pin 14 and the shank 10 as far down as they will go. The `shank 1l] in turn draws with it the cap 12, and this latter holds the stop drum 65 into pressure engagement with the ball 85. As a result of this action, whenever the drum is in such position that the ball 85 engages one of the depressions 8|, said ball 85 under the action of the spring 83 provides a resilient lock for the stop drum. For each position of the stop drum 65 corresponding to one of the depressions 8|, one of the stops 66 is effective in the same manner as the stop 28 in the case of the first embodiment hereinbefore described. When it is desired to rotate the lstop drum to render a different stop effective, it is sufficient for the operator to insert his finger underneath the U piece 11 and pull the lever 15 up, compressing the spring 19. Then the pin 14, the shank 16, and the cap 12 will no longer be urged downwardly, and therefore the resilient lock provided by the spring 83 and ball 85 and depressions 8| will be sufciently loosened to provide easy manual rotation of the stop drum 65.

The top piece 6| comprises a ver-tical web 86, a horizontal cylinder 81, and a horizontal sector 88. Said sector 88 has on the upper face thereof a number of depressions 89 shaped substantially like portions of a sphere. A bracket piece 98, best seen in Fig. 17, is attached, as by means of screw 8| to the bottom piece, and has in the upwardly extending portion thereof a bore in which is force fitted or otherwise rigidly held, a sleeve 92. A compression coil spring 93 is housed in the sleeve 92 and is held therein by a pin 94 or other suitable means, and acts to force a ball or sphere 95 into pressure engagement with the upper surface of the sector 88. The last described spring and ball together with the depressions 89 in the sector 88 form a resilient lock of the nature of those already hereinbefore described, which lock is effective in a number of positions, each corresponding to one of the depressions 89. The upper piece 6 also embodies a forwardmost circular portion 96 best seen in Fig. 18, which portion 86 is centrally bored and is freely pivoted on the core 69, so that the whole top piece is freely pivotable thereabout with respect to the bottom piece 60. The portion 96 has a cut-away part 91, which cutaway part accommodates the sleeve 98 housing the spring 83 in all possible positions of the top piece relative to the bottom piece. The remaining parts of this embodiment do not substantially differ from those in the previously described embodiment. Here we have a disc |69, a sleeve ||l|, a chuck |02, a shank |93, a flange |84, a cyilnder |05, a spring |06, a ball |01, and a number of depressions in the disc cooperating with the ball |01, which parts correspond respectively to, and perform the same functions as, the following parts of the first embodiment; disc 31, sleeve 36, chuck 39, shank 4|, flange 42, cylinder 44, spring 45, and ball 41.

The operation of this second embodiment of my invention differs from the operation of the first embodiment in that, while the indicia is being shaped, the angle of the axis of the bit with respect to the grinding, lapping, or polishing wheel (and therefore the angle of the face of the indicia with respect to the axis of the indicia) can be varied by manually rotating the top piece about the core 69 to cause any desired depression 39 to come into engagement with the ball 95, as well as by pulling upwards the lever 15 and rotating the stop drum 65 to place any desired stop 66 in position to cooperate with a stop plate |1.

While I have described two preferred embodiments of my invention, by way of illustration, it is understood that a number of modifications, changes, and adaptations in the particular mechanical parts and arrangements and parts thereof can be made by persons skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the claim appended hereto.

- f Iiclaim:

r `A- device l for shaping f indicia t for dials 'e of watches or the like .toibel' used in combination :with 4a number ofagrindingnan'd lapping. wheels .orfthe like, anumber ofnxed guides,.;and atleast one xed stop p1ate, comprising; aY bottom` piece Vsame in a position` wherein-it causesisaidI cap to,

engage said stop support and-press the same tolwardssaid bottompiece,.- a7 rspring mem-ber mounted in said bottom piece, a'4 ball freely mounted in said bottom piece-between said spring and a, face` of said stop support; a number` of de- Vpressions in said face of saidy stop support adapted to be engaged by said-balL'said stopsupport be- `coming resiliently locked-with respect to said vbottom -piece by the combined actionf-'off-sa'id `snringlmember and ofthei'above mentioned re'- -silient means when one'of said depressionsis engaged by said ba1l,-ea`ch of vthe -.positions. -in which said stop member .thusbzbecomes resiliently `Ickedcorresponding'to one of said'stop members and rendering said stop `member operative, `manually'actuated means 'for overcoming lsaid resilient means `to loosen :said` resilient 'lock whereby to allow manualrotation of saidfstop isupport-vwith fnespect torzsaidc'bottom .ffpiece dor srendering-any desiredfstopfmember operatlresa top piece pivotablerwith 'respect to'said ibotlim piece, a imember xed' tof saidy 'bottom piece; and

:housingy a spring'. member; a Y ball interposed',` between said spring member and a faceofvsaid 4top piece, a number of depressions in'sald tace -of the top piece' adapted tobe engaged-:why lsaid 'ball resiliently tolock said top piece rwitlrrespect 'to saidlbottomf piece in any one of a numbemof .predetermined angular relationshipsucorrespond- .ing veach' toxa. predeterminedan'gle betweema.

face of` the finished indicianand the axsfof symmetry of said indicia-,a chuck forholding an indicia blank. tofbe shapedgr'means for rotatably mounting, saidachuckinsaid top piece, and

fmeans for resiliently clamping'l said chucknwith yrespectvtol` said top piece in any one of a. number of predetermined angular relationships.

REFERENCES' VEI'IED The .following references are of record in the .ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name "Date 457,866 Messaz Aug. 18, 1891 v569,252 Strasburger Oct. 13,11896 802,368 Coleman Oct. 24, 1905 1,094,914 Loesser Apr. 28, 1914 i1,284,109 Hunt Nov. ,5; 19.18 1,305,038 De Vries et al 'May 27, 1919 1,329,371 Coleman Febf; 1920 1,583,963 Donaldson May 11, r1926 '2,137,405 Johns Nov. 22, 1928 2,252,287 Helfgott Aug. 12, 1941 2,391,979 Kershaw Jan. 1,;1946 

